I'm leaning toward flashback. Especially since the hosts are wearing clothes in those scenes IIRC, which is established as against protocol.

You're making a lot of assumptions about this future world.

Well said. Agreed that the pilot was excellent at finding the balance. In retrospect it's a bit unfortunate that they felt the need to provide so much exposition from that point on. The very next episode starts with William and Logan's journey into Westworld, which was much more typical "here are audience surrogates…

I can't see why Ford or Bernard would kill her. If anything she was a much bigger threat to Theresa's plans (on behalf of Charlotte/the board).

The creators explain this in an interview somewhere, if you're ok with meta explanations. Basically, the bullets can instantly detect a host vs. a guest, and if it's a guest it sort of splatters harmlessly against their skin (but with some minor pain, like a paintball).

I like the theme music in the show itself much more than the theme, though the theme is good itself. The "arriving in Westworld" is wonderfully evocative.

Re: Bernard

Why would she have to work? She's not human; she doesn't need food or shelter.

It makes sense even without that exposition, too. They live and work on a mesa in the middle of nowhere. That's the kind of job you do as a "deployment," not permanently.

Having the tech/surgeon characters turn out to be hosts would only make sense if it isn't Ford controlling them, in my view. Maeve's self-awareness seems like the last thing he would want.

Felix is the Asian actor; Sylvester is the redhead.

I think it's pretty consistent with Nolan's other work, if not better. Both Nolans are known for mind-fuckery and twisting stories that are entertaining if not philosophically deep.

Bernard clearly knows a lot more about the outside world than other hosts, otherwise his facade would fall apart pretty much every day.

… Which is maddening, since the entire point is that it's all one timeline!

That's a good one. Either Maeve snaps and kills a guest, providing Delos cover to kick Ford out, or she "escapes" and they can study her outside of Ford's control.

Definitely. I think Ford will argue that the hosts have to be contained and controlled, for their own sake and for humanity. I imagine Delos wants to use the technology in a way that would introduce hosts to the "real" world.

It seems to play thematically-appropriate indie rock songs, too. Would Maeve have turned off Radiohead?

They probably do, but remember in this case the conceit was that the Host wasn't functioning properly and may harm guests.

I agree that they need to explain this better, but: Maeve has already shown a disturbing ability to ignore the techs' commands.

I believe Bernard or Ford mentioned that the older machines work, it just takes a lot longer. Presumably, it's closer process to what they used initially.